Molly Sheehy joins the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona as a project manager in the campaign department after six years in national service, most recently managing an AmeriCorps VISTA Grant with Arizona Serve. After receiving a degree in human development from Prescott College and serving a term as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the Yavapai CASA for Kids Foundation, she moved to Tucson in 2014. She is a volunteer with the Center for Community Dialogue and will be embarking upon a Master of Social Work degree through Arizona State University starting this fall.
Nirit Gelfer is the new Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. Gelfer grew up on a moshav (small village) in northern Israel. After high school, she participated in the year-long volunteer Shinshinim program, working at a boarding school in Israel for kids and teens with psychological challenges. She served three years in the IDF as a sniper instructor and officer of operations. After her service, she spent a summer working at Crane Lake, a Jewish sleepaway camp in Massachusetts, before traveling in South America for seven months. She also visited Thailand and volunteered in Tanzania. While studying at Tel-Hai College in northern Israel, she was involved in student government and worked at the Jewish Agency, coordinating programs for American Jews to visit Israel. Last year, she was the Israel Fellow at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Arizona Theatre Company has added new staff, including Kevin Marshall, finance director, a practicing CPA for more than 30 years who owns a virtual firm serving clients nationwide, and was named among People to Watch by Money Magazine; Will Rogers, director of artistic programs, was a producer and theater maker in Chicago for 12 years, including seven years at Victory Gardens Theater; and Christopher Oscar Peña, artistic associate, a playwright and TV writer originally from the Silicon Valley.
Clinica Amistad received the Arizona-Mexico Commission Senator Andy Nichols Award. The clinic provides free primary health care, preventive services and education to those in need in Southern Arizona. Since opening in 2003, its all-volunteer providers have cared for more than 5,000 people.
Lisa Schacter-Brooks has recently joined the staff of Congregation Bet Shalom as congregation director. This newly created position combines organizational administration with community and pastoral care. Schacter-Brooks joined the synagogue’s staff after three years as director of operations at the Jewish History Museum where she continues to stay involved as a volunteer.
The Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus will hold auditions Monday, Sept. 16 a 7 p.m. Among the works that will be performed in the 2019-2020 season is a world premiere performance of “vokas anima” by Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, the choir director at Temple Emanu-El. Lopez-Hanhsaw is a TSO Young Composers Project alumnus.
Arizona Repertory Singers has named Ryan Phillips, M.M. as its music director. Phillips earned a master’s degree in choral conducting from Northern Arizona University. As a graduate student at NAU, he directed the Harold M. Harter Memorial Handbell Choir, and Chamber Singers. In Tucson, he studied at the University of Arizona and was assistant director of The Tucson Masterworks Chorale and the Helios Ensemble, music director at Academy of Tucson High School and choir director at Holy Way Presbyterian Church. As a child, Phillips sang in the Tucson Boys Chorus for seven years.
Kellman Beat Cancer Boot Camp, founded by Anita Kellman, will host a Beat Cancer Community Festival on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 8 a.m. at the Udall Park amphitheater, 7200 E Tanque Verde Road. More information is at www.beatcancerbootcamp.org.
Best Lawyers in America selected Melvin Cohen of Mesch Clark Rothschild as the Lawyer of the Year for Construction Law in Tucson. Cohen currently serves on the City of Tucson Roads Bond Oversight Commission and is a board member of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council and Cradle to Career.
